kelston
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2003
- Posts
- 122
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- 11
Right, so I suppose my previous thread can be ignored. I was a fan of the Zu sound when I first heard their Pivots so I took an immense leap of faith and purposely did damage to my Senn HD600s to plug in my Mobius (filed off the plastic protrusions). It doesn't seem to affect cable connection as my Cardas still fit in snugly.
I've been a reader of Head-Fi for a year now, a member for half, and a really broke college student since I first discovered the articles on here. All in all, am I an audiophile? No, definately not. I don't know even half of what most here do. I still on occasion will enjoy the "terrible" sound coming out of my Sony D-171 and I swear by my computer as a valid high quality sound source.
I just figured I would say something about my initial listening session - literally out of the box - with the Zu Mobius. It was because of Head-Fi that I bought the HD600s despite the fact that I was a listener of rock (where people swear by Grado apparently) amongst other more modern musical genres.
Listening gear: nVidia nForce2 Soundstorm APU -> Klipsch ProMedia 5.1's PreAmp -> JMT META42 (OPA627, no bass boost/crossfeed) -> HD600 (by way of Foobar2000 audio player)
Foobar's Equalizer is set as close to GerG's recommended "FLAT" setting for the HD600 as I could get it. It sounds best (to me) this way.
Sound files:
Electronica (Trance/Techno):
Foggy - Come Into My Dreams (Goldschmitz) - MP3 (yea, yea, yea)
Unknown Artist - Bidibodi Bidibu (track from Supertroopers that the Porsche was booming) - FLAC
Hybrid - Finished Symphony - MP3
Rock (Pop/Punk - Punk):
Allister - Westbound - FLAC
Good Charlotte - My Bloody Valentine - FLAC
Dropkick Murphys - Walk Away - MP3
Dashboard Confessional - Again I Go Unnoticed - MP3
SR-71 - Right Now (Acoustic) - MP3
Classical (Sort of):
Carl Orff's Carmina Burana - O Fortuna - Jochum recording - CD
Same recording - This Is The Joyful Time (Court of Love III)
Ska (Rock/Ska):
Reel Big Fish - Good Thing - CD
Reel Big Fish - Where Have You Been? - CD
Reel Big Fish - She's Famous Now - CD
Yes, that's a whole LOT of tracks. Why? There doesn't seem to be many people (that are vocal anyway) here that share my interests in aggressive more "pop" music. This is for the benefit of those few who actually do. I've done all I can to make aggressive music that I can "feel" sound amazing out of my HD600s, which are classified as "polite" (or at times, almost too polite).
Trance/Techno
Yes, they're almost all MP3s. I am aware of this, however, it would cost me thousands of dollars to find and import all the CDs that single tracks are on to make up my trance/techno collection.
Cardas Cable - You know the sound. Polite but with bass. Cardas takes the trance tracks and massages it into your head. That's the best way to put it. It's great for the tonal modulation in Foggy's track, but it's lacking. It's almost un-danceable. I hate to say it, but there's no authority in Cardas' interpretation of trance. This isn't all bad, since fans of happy, floaty trance would LOVE the Cardas.
Zu Cable - Forward, very much so. With the Foggy track, however, there is a slight loss of one certain bass beat as opposed to the Cardas. It cuts out sooner. This can be forgiven I suppose when Zu takes a hold of Hybrid's track. Hybrid's track is truly symphonic (at least, as close as trance can get). Zu's cable just flows through the track and you can't help but dance. Not even tap your foot, you have to stand up and dance (albeit in a very geeky manner).
Rock/Punk
A large portion of what I listen to is Punk/Rock Pop/Punk. It is essential that whatever my system is, that it makes Punk sound good.
Cardas - Can punk be acoustical? Very musical? If you said no, Cardas shows you up. Cardas' punk is more of a mellow rebellion, almost like a hippie. It removes a lot of the raw-ness of punk and lightly taps your shoulder to tell you that the lyrics actually say something. It handles the happier punk tracks very well. The punk bands which take themselves less-than-seriously, Allister as opposed to early Greenday for example. The little humorous love songs are handled really well. For a music of rebellion, Cardas' punk is a smooth-talker.
Zu - Zu takes the essence of punk and shows it to you. It captures the aggression, even those hidden in the love songs, the happy, funny songs. Where Cardas makes you nod your head, Zu has you headbanging a little. Where Zu was missing bass in the Foggy track, it took Westbound and showed me something I didn't notice. The bass guitar actually reaches a gutteralness that I didn't see with the Cardas. As much as I liked my Cardas cable, this was ear-opening.
Classical
Seems to be a favorite here, so I figured I would listen to some to be fair.
Cardas - We all know the musicalness of Cardas in general. Despite the forwardness of O Fortuna, Cardas captures it well. The timpani thumps and the chorus' vocals float high above the range, and when it should the orchestra overpowers and takes you for a ride, whether you wanted one or not.
Zu - Take the musicality of the Cardas and add aggression, that's what you've got with Zu. You *feel* the timpani, you *feel* that final crescendo and you're left panting before being drawn to the oddly peaceful monk chant in the next track. The passion that Orff was attempting to portray is brought to another level by the Zu.
Ska
It's sort of like rock with trumpets! How can you go wrong?
Cardas - The musical nature of Ska is what the Cardas strives for and achieves. It's smooth flowing. The trumpeting in "She's Famous Now" is catchy and with the Cardas you whistle along or even play "air-trumpet".
Zu - As is the case with all the previous categories, Zu adds a fun factor to Ska. If you've ever been to a live Ska performance, it's very crowd-pleasing. Zu brings that out and you do that silly Ska dance. The forwardness of Zu makes you feel a part of a live show. The trumpets, crisp. The vocals, fun and frontal.
In the end, is there a winner? Surely not. Cardas' cable does what Cardas' trademark is. It makes a polite headphone even more polite. Soft music is it's forte. While Cardas does have some fun when it comes to the more louder, younger generation tracks it just falls behind the Zu. To me, Zu's trademark seems to be aggression, Zu loves the bass but is able to take the musicality of the Cardas to make the aggressive tracks what they should be. I had a lot of fun with my Cardas, but the Zu's are here to stay.
Please make note that this is the first time my Zu has been plugged in. I'm sure it gets better much like the Cardas did. Also note that my ears are a lot less critical than most of your's. I tend to enjoy my music rather than critique my gear so take my comparison with a grain of salt. I don't know all the words to properly describe all of what I hear. I'm also afraid of tossing around words like "transparent" because I doubt I really know what transparency of audio really is.
If I had to make a complaint about the Zu's it would be the mesh coat. If I move, it rubs against itself and on other things and sends that vibrational noise to my ears. Light microphonics maybe but the Cardas did the same if I tapped it.
I've been a reader of Head-Fi for a year now, a member for half, and a really broke college student since I first discovered the articles on here. All in all, am I an audiophile? No, definately not. I don't know even half of what most here do. I still on occasion will enjoy the "terrible" sound coming out of my Sony D-171 and I swear by my computer as a valid high quality sound source.
I just figured I would say something about my initial listening session - literally out of the box - with the Zu Mobius. It was because of Head-Fi that I bought the HD600s despite the fact that I was a listener of rock (where people swear by Grado apparently) amongst other more modern musical genres.
Listening gear: nVidia nForce2 Soundstorm APU -> Klipsch ProMedia 5.1's PreAmp -> JMT META42 (OPA627, no bass boost/crossfeed) -> HD600 (by way of Foobar2000 audio player)
Foobar's Equalizer is set as close to GerG's recommended "FLAT" setting for the HD600 as I could get it. It sounds best (to me) this way.
Sound files:
Electronica (Trance/Techno):
Foggy - Come Into My Dreams (Goldschmitz) - MP3 (yea, yea, yea)
Unknown Artist - Bidibodi Bidibu (track from Supertroopers that the Porsche was booming) - FLAC
Hybrid - Finished Symphony - MP3
Rock (Pop/Punk - Punk):
Allister - Westbound - FLAC
Good Charlotte - My Bloody Valentine - FLAC
Dropkick Murphys - Walk Away - MP3
Dashboard Confessional - Again I Go Unnoticed - MP3
SR-71 - Right Now (Acoustic) - MP3
Classical (Sort of):
Carl Orff's Carmina Burana - O Fortuna - Jochum recording - CD
Same recording - This Is The Joyful Time (Court of Love III)
Ska (Rock/Ska):
Reel Big Fish - Good Thing - CD
Reel Big Fish - Where Have You Been? - CD
Reel Big Fish - She's Famous Now - CD
Yes, that's a whole LOT of tracks. Why? There doesn't seem to be many people (that are vocal anyway) here that share my interests in aggressive more "pop" music. This is for the benefit of those few who actually do. I've done all I can to make aggressive music that I can "feel" sound amazing out of my HD600s, which are classified as "polite" (or at times, almost too polite).
Trance/Techno
Yes, they're almost all MP3s. I am aware of this, however, it would cost me thousands of dollars to find and import all the CDs that single tracks are on to make up my trance/techno collection.
Cardas Cable - You know the sound. Polite but with bass. Cardas takes the trance tracks and massages it into your head. That's the best way to put it. It's great for the tonal modulation in Foggy's track, but it's lacking. It's almost un-danceable. I hate to say it, but there's no authority in Cardas' interpretation of trance. This isn't all bad, since fans of happy, floaty trance would LOVE the Cardas.
Zu Cable - Forward, very much so. With the Foggy track, however, there is a slight loss of one certain bass beat as opposed to the Cardas. It cuts out sooner. This can be forgiven I suppose when Zu takes a hold of Hybrid's track. Hybrid's track is truly symphonic (at least, as close as trance can get). Zu's cable just flows through the track and you can't help but dance. Not even tap your foot, you have to stand up and dance (albeit in a very geeky manner).
Rock/Punk
A large portion of what I listen to is Punk/Rock Pop/Punk. It is essential that whatever my system is, that it makes Punk sound good.
Cardas - Can punk be acoustical? Very musical? If you said no, Cardas shows you up. Cardas' punk is more of a mellow rebellion, almost like a hippie. It removes a lot of the raw-ness of punk and lightly taps your shoulder to tell you that the lyrics actually say something. It handles the happier punk tracks very well. The punk bands which take themselves less-than-seriously, Allister as opposed to early Greenday for example. The little humorous love songs are handled really well. For a music of rebellion, Cardas' punk is a smooth-talker.
Zu - Zu takes the essence of punk and shows it to you. It captures the aggression, even those hidden in the love songs, the happy, funny songs. Where Cardas makes you nod your head, Zu has you headbanging a little. Where Zu was missing bass in the Foggy track, it took Westbound and showed me something I didn't notice. The bass guitar actually reaches a gutteralness that I didn't see with the Cardas. As much as I liked my Cardas cable, this was ear-opening.
Classical
Seems to be a favorite here, so I figured I would listen to some to be fair.
Cardas - We all know the musicalness of Cardas in general. Despite the forwardness of O Fortuna, Cardas captures it well. The timpani thumps and the chorus' vocals float high above the range, and when it should the orchestra overpowers and takes you for a ride, whether you wanted one or not.
Zu - Take the musicality of the Cardas and add aggression, that's what you've got with Zu. You *feel* the timpani, you *feel* that final crescendo and you're left panting before being drawn to the oddly peaceful monk chant in the next track. The passion that Orff was attempting to portray is brought to another level by the Zu.
Ska
It's sort of like rock with trumpets! How can you go wrong?
Cardas - The musical nature of Ska is what the Cardas strives for and achieves. It's smooth flowing. The trumpeting in "She's Famous Now" is catchy and with the Cardas you whistle along or even play "air-trumpet".
Zu - As is the case with all the previous categories, Zu adds a fun factor to Ska. If you've ever been to a live Ska performance, it's very crowd-pleasing. Zu brings that out and you do that silly Ska dance. The forwardness of Zu makes you feel a part of a live show. The trumpets, crisp. The vocals, fun and frontal.
In the end, is there a winner? Surely not. Cardas' cable does what Cardas' trademark is. It makes a polite headphone even more polite. Soft music is it's forte. While Cardas does have some fun when it comes to the more louder, younger generation tracks it just falls behind the Zu. To me, Zu's trademark seems to be aggression, Zu loves the bass but is able to take the musicality of the Cardas to make the aggressive tracks what they should be. I had a lot of fun with my Cardas, but the Zu's are here to stay.
Please make note that this is the first time my Zu has been plugged in. I'm sure it gets better much like the Cardas did. Also note that my ears are a lot less critical than most of your's. I tend to enjoy my music rather than critique my gear so take my comparison with a grain of salt. I don't know all the words to properly describe all of what I hear. I'm also afraid of tossing around words like "transparent" because I doubt I really know what transparency of audio really is.
If I had to make a complaint about the Zu's it would be the mesh coat. If I move, it rubs against itself and on other things and sends that vibrational noise to my ears. Light microphonics maybe but the Cardas did the same if I tapped it.
